Hello, Dearest
by nerdy-pants
Summary: My first ever ff! Please read and reveiw. An interesting love story involving Fred Weasley and Holly Catten. Lots of plot and a few fluffy details.
1. Chapter 1

Discalimer, ect. This is my first submission to , please review! I hope to continue the story and have a few more chapters waiting for publish. Thank you. =)

Chapter No.1

The crowd hushes in anticipation. One by one they throw their attention to Holly Catten, who has just pulled into a miraculous and dangerously fast dive… She's seen the snitch! The opposition's players have caught on, and she dodges bludgers whilst narrowly missing chasers bodies. Still focused and dangerous in the dive, her golden-ruby hair streaming in wild, electrical curls, the final threat to her victory has plummeted close behind her - the opponents seeker, Viktor Krum. Gaining closer and closer to the hovering golden sphere, neck and neck with Krum, the Quiditch goddess does the unforeseeable. Moments before a literally crashing capture, she darts out her hand as quick as lightning and swipes the air inches from the snitch, causing it to take off again in a glint of gold. Before Krum has the slightest chance to even consider what's happened, Catten makes an absolutely mad turn on a dime and jets off for the snitch again, arguably parallel to the ground with 4-5 inches between. She circles around, and in a burst of speed grabs out with a nimbly quick hand. The crowd goes positively insane! Holly Hugo Catten has done it again!

"HOLLY - HUGO - CATTEN! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I GOTTA TAKE AWAY THIS BROOM?!" I nearly crashed into a tree. "IT'S PAST ELEVEN! DO YOU HAVE SELECTIVE HEARING, HOLLY, OR AM I CORRECT IN ASSUMING THAT YOU'RE IGNORING EVERY WARNING I GIVE YOU?" my mother yelled, stomping into the orchard in her nightgown and rubber boots. Before I could think of any argument that could possibly save my skin, another round of screaming was shot into the would be pleasant night air.

"WELL THAT'S IT! NO MORE WARNINGS! YOUR GROUNDED FOR THE WEEK, NO BROOM, NO OUTTINGS, NO FRIENDS, NO NOTHING!" As I cautiously landed from my Cleansweep, she stormed over and grabbed my ear, yanking me in the direction of the house.

"Honestly Holly! Could have set the bloody orchard on fire with these lanterns!" I let out a sigh of exasperation as she stopped short and waved her wand to put out the candlelit lanterns I had carefully set so I could practice without worrying too much of knocking into apple tree's.

"Mum, would you let go of my ear?" I pleaded. She dropped her hand but I knew I was still in it deep. The scolding and stomping continued all the way up to our old Victorian house on the hill overlooking our apple orchard. She opened the door for me and slammed it shut upon arrival, turning to me continuously ranting as profusely as she had started.

"Phil finds your not in bed after he goes in to get you after a nightmare, poor things already scared half to death, imagine what he thinks when his sisters gone! Comes running into our room, lucky Dad was home tonight, because I had to go out hunting for you! You had better get into that bed right now, young lady, before I change my mind and you're stuck in for two weeks of this lovely summer! And give me that broom - I ought to call on Janey's parents and tell them to cancel your two's plans for next week!"

"Mum, you wouldn't-" I begin. Janey, my best friend, and I had been planning to spend the last of the summer holidays together. We've been talking about it since July began; her parents had even allowed me to come on their three night excursion to Diagon Alley.

"You're awfully lucky I don't! Now you get upstairs, AND YOU HAD BETTER NOT PLAN ON ANYMORE STUNTS LIKE THIS, HOLLY!"

I trudged up the creaky stairs to the second floor. My cat, Ginger, was sitting at the top with a knowing look in his large, bluish eyes. They reminded me of swamp water, a wonky sort of combination of blue, green and yellow. I scooped him up from the old carpet and went to my room, closing the door behind me. Sitting on the edge of my mismatched bedspread, I stroked Gingers head and fumed slightly at Mums fit.

It was only the second time I had ever snuck out to practice! And I only did it so I could go undisturbed. The normal Mum would be a lot more lenient. Usually my younger brother Phillip showed up in the orchard after a half hour into it, a whole if I was lucky. If I really wanted to concentrate I had to make sure he was distracted before hand, or else I would be bombarded with questions and continuous requests for rides.

Ritchy, my brother older than me by two years, wasn't really much help. Phil loved him too, but he was always more interested in my flying than whatever Ritchy had to offer.

Usually my Mum or Dad got Phil doing something or other if I asked them to before I went out, but now was kind of a stupid time to practice since they were so stressed out lately with the prospect of my grandparents visiting.

Grandma and Grandpa Ollie were alright when I was younger, they had spoiled the crap out of me. But whenever they visited in recent years it showed more and more that as you grew older, expectations sky rocketed. My Mum loves them, but she's under a lot of pressure. A week and a half before a visit, it's like walking on eggshells with her. So asking where to put a dish or if you can have a pantry treat could very well result in blown eardrums. Stupid time to try and practice, really…

But I didn't have much other choice. Grandma and Grandpa would be here a couple days before I left for Janey's, and I couldn't practice while at her house. The few days they were here were out of the question. And I really needed to get some practice in before tryouts (even if some of it was day dreaming). I'd have to find a way to convince Mum to let me back on my broom.

Quiditch is my thing, apart from reading. Since my uncle, Lou as I call him, took me to my first game, I was enthralled. A couple months later on my 1Oth birthday, I had received my first broom from him. Lou enjoys my passion as he shares it, and came out 4 - 5 times a month to teach me the rules, strategies and skills of Quiditch. Eventually it became games of one on one, and now we're a pretty even match. I began with trying out all the positions, but my favourite and most comfortable place on the team was soon decided beater.

I surprised Lou with how precisely and far I could whack the bludgers from our family's Quiditch set, he sometimes joked it was a good thing they were enchanted to come back. In my second year, I was the youngest ever girl beater to make the Ravenclaw Quiditch team. Lou was extremely excited. He still comes out to play every once in a while, mostly in the summer, since his job as a tracking aurror has been keeping him busy lately.

According to the Ministry, he's hunting for Sirius Black. But Mum, Dad, Aunt Percy, my cousin Tammy, Ritchy and I are all aware that he's in league with the Order of the Phoenix, taking leads from his partner Kingsly Shacklebolt on the whereabouts of Voldemort and Death Eaters who are in his inner circle. It's really dangerous business, and we all worry about him, but there's no stopping it. He wouldn't even if he wanted to, which I know he does sometimes for the sake of his family. But we understand the importance of what he does.

Tammy is Lou and Aunt Percy's eldest daughter. She's twenty one, and in with the Order too. There's also John, Abby and Clarice, who're fifteen, eleven and seven, but apparently they're keeping it from John until they're sure he can handle it. Tammy herself found out by accident when she was sixteen, and apparently they were going to tell her. But I know my Aunt Percy well enough to realise that she just wanted Tammy to be as least involved in the whole business as possible and was procrastinating because of it. I figure it's the same deal with John. Dad, who's an aurror as well, told me a last Christmas. I had just turned fifteen, and he's straightforward in the way that he thought I should know what they were doing as soon as possible. I'm glad my Dad trusts me. My Mum does too, but like Aunt Percy, she worries. Since I was told, it's a really touchy subject to bring up. Mum made me swear that I wouldn't try to get involved with the Order until later, when I was properly trained, since she knew there wouldn't be keeping me out after long. Lucky for her, I'm still fifteen and going no where, apart from Hogwarts. I've never been to an Order meeting, and I don't know any member's who aren't related to me apart from Shacklebolt and Dumbledore. Really, the only things I know about the Order are its purpose and existence. I don't think about it much except when wondering where and what Lou might be up too. It's really just pointless to ponder over the whole thing.

I put Ginger back down on the bed and got up to change into my pyjamas. Pulling on an old t-shirt and slacks, I crawled into bed and took a book from the top of the pile on my bedside table. The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

I had found it last night on the old bookshelf in the office. I hadn't been read from this since I was younger than Phil, who's five. I began to wonder why when dear Ginger pushed his furry mug under my arms and made himself comfortable on my chest, blocking all view of the book from my comfortable reading position. Since I had been kind of rude to him earlier today when pushing him off my desk to do some homework, I obliged in scratching behind his ears. Amidst his purring, I heard my door creak slightly open.

Peering around Gingers fat bottom, I saw little Phil's fingers clutching the door frame while he peeked into my room from the sliver of darkness.

"C'mere, Philly." I said with overly fake reluctance. Without hesitation he dashed across my room and jumped into my bed, snuggling up close to me and the cat.

"I like it when Gingy purrs." Phil whispered, gently stroking him. "He sounds good." I smiled. Despite all his pestering and troublemaking, Phil was the most adorable little brother I could ask for. He was clumsy in spite of his ambitious mischievousness, which made him all the more hilarious. The situations he's called for my rescue from are priceless, from getting his arms twisted and tangled until he was completely stuck in Mum's bra, to running screaming into the house followed by Henrietta, our chicken. At least he knew to keep away from my books and wand, even if everything else to him was never out of bounds. And he was smart enough only to stroke and look at my broom, which I didn't mind, because I loved polishing it, secretly.

"I heard you had a bad dream, eh?" I asked. He looked up with huge, terrified eyes and nodded.

"I thought the Sink Man had gotten you, Holly! I ran and told Mum and Dad, because what if he got them too?! And Richee?!" He couldn't pronounce Ritchy's name yet, and always overdid the e's.

"Oh, don't be silly, Phillip." I said, rolling my eyes. "I was out _hunting_ the Sink Monster! He's run away, he's gone past the fence and everything. I told him, don't you come back and bother my Phil anymore, or I'll kung-fu you! And he ran like the wind." Phil stared at me with his mouth slightly open for a second and then suddenly wrapped his arms around me, his muffled voice warbled out from my sleeve- "Oh, Holly, you're the best sister ever!" I nearly cried. "Alright, Phil, you're the best little brother too." I said sheepishly. He unwrapped his embrace and beamed up at me. "But it's time to sleep, or else we'll be really tired tomorrow. I'm going to finish my reading, but no more talking." He nodded to me and pulled Ginger from on top of me to under the covers, where the cat obligingly stayed until Phil had nodded off. I read a few tales from Beedle, shut off the lamp and fell into odd dreams of the Sink Monster, and Ginger teaching me kung-fu.

The next morning I woke alone, and missing a pillow. I got dressed and looked into the mirror to make sure my hair didn't need to be restyled. I almost always wore it in its natural wavy curls, but sometimes the long locks needed a boost after being slept on. I went down the flight of stairs and into the kitchen to get some breakfast, and upon passing through the living room I discovered where my pillow had gone. "Phil, can you please tell Ginger to let me have my pillow back?" I asked the little five year old, who was hunched over the cat. My pillow had been stuffed in a box, and Ginger was sitting in it on top being stroked by Phil. There were also doodles all over the whole thing, apart from the cat, that looked sort of like letters and cats and stars.

"But Gingy really likes the bed, Holly. It's his own."

"Oh, whatever then." I yawned and stretched. I could just get a different one, Mum would be able to magic the stains out. I'd just pretend to have nothing to do with it and hide in my room when she found dear Gingy's bed. She's amazing at house cleaning spells.

Going to find her once I got a piece of toast in my stomach, I remembered my battle plan to get my broom back from this morning. I had decided to play it sweet and innocent, but not so much so that it would make her feel too guilty, just enough so that she's let me practice without getting more frustrated. I was so brilliant.

I went out into our huge front yard. The August sun was delightful. I saw her hanging clothes on the clothesline and approached slowly.

"Mum…" I began.

"Mm." She replied to show she was listening.

"About last night… I only snuck out because I really need to concentrate before try outs, and I know your all too busy to watch Phil in the day. This is my last week here to practice, and I won't be able to at Janey's, or with Grandma and Grandpa visiting. Could I _please_ have my broom back?" I crossed my fingers behind my back as I waited in silence. After a minute or so, she replied with exasperation

"Alright. But Holly, if your going to go out at night, take Ritchy's flashlights instead of lanterns, and tell me before hand. And don't even try staying out past eleven. I mean it. And you're in charge of Phil until Grandma and Grandpa get here, and you had better get that house clean too. Especially your room. And tidy Phil's. Tell Ritchy the same."

"Of course Mum!" I chirped, and gave her a kiss on the cheek before skipping to the house. I knew she was either smiling slightly or doing her best not to. If you played it right, she really wasn't hard to please.

The day's passing until Grandma and Grandpa Ollie's visit were pretty calm, considering my family. Me and Phil went to Aunt Percy's one afternoon, and she and I chatted about Lou and his work. She hadn't heard from him for a while, but she new it was only because he didn't want the owls to be followed or intercepted. It was refreshing, talking to Aunt Percy. She discussed things with me with the maturity level one would expect in a grown up discussion.

I got flying in nearly every night, and Ritchy's flashlights had made a difference. They were easy to set up and he bewitched them to be brighter than normal muggle ones. Plus, they didn't flicker or go out. Ritchy wasn't a muggle lover, but he had some non-magic friends from the town we were just outside of. He picked up a few nifty ideas from some of their wacky inventions. It's odd how well they manage without magic.

I was able to set up and really hit targets with these lamps, and when Dad was home one night I got him to charm some that wouldn't break or fall over when a bludger came at them. He even got some to zoom around for me. However, the night before my grandparents arrived, something slightly odd happened.

I had been practicing like usual; about to head in since it was around quarter to eleven, when I noticed something in an apple tree. I was used to owls and the occasional squirrel or rabbit, and robins and blue jays weren't unusual. But what I had thought I seen looked kind of well, human. I had to pull around and stop to get a better look, but by the time I did the whatever or whoever it was seemed to notice I had spotted it. I heard a bit of a scramble and a snap, got a glimpse of what looked kind of like legs, and then it was gone. Spooked, I packed up the lights and such and flew up the hill instead of walking. I decided not to tell Mum since she'd freak out over it. Dad wasn't home.

The next morning, Grandma and Grandpa Ollie arrived nice (as if) and early. Mum was fluttering around and kind of twitty, and I made sure that I put on nice clothes. They both gave me a hug when we met, and Grandma immediately began with the questioning. "So, Holly dear, how's summer been? Are you still at it with that Quiditch? Keeping in touch with your friends? What about any boys? So, have you kept up with your studying since break began? If I remember correctly it was a handful of OWLS last term, wasn't it. What were those in, again? Mhmm. I see." I just tried to be polite and secretly wished she was more like Grandpa, who usually skulked off after a while to read the Prophet over again. When she saw Phil, it was hugs and smiles and kisses and hard candies, with a great deal of the usual cooing: "Oh, what a little darling! How are you, sweet boy? Isn't he just adorable." and so on and so forth.

The two days seemed like an eternity, but it had finally come time to escape the madhouse. I said goodbye to Phil (and Gingy, it was insisted. Henrietta as well, even though Phil stayed behind me the whole time.) And Ritchy had to come down from his room. During the summer he usually slept most days and snuck out to town nearly every night. I had insisted on going with him once or twice, but it wasn't that fun. Grandma and Grandpa gave me hugs and fair wishes.

I think Grandpa had started to go slightly off his rocker, as old people often do. Mid-hug he whispered in my ear -

"And never forget, Holly, that you can paralyze with or without looks. Might come in handy." I just said "Right you are, Gramps." and continued with the farewells. He used to be an aurror too. Mum had said he hadn't been right since after a battle with an unknown Death Eater. Mum reminded me of manners and packing and such, and gave me an extra ten galleons, hugged and kissed me with "I love you" 's too. Dad reminded me to keep up practicing at school and to write often, with eleven galleons slipped into my coat pocket.

Twenty one spending galleons! And I knew it was just for Diagon Alley, I had a vault in Gringgot's for school supplies and Hogsmeade trips. There was a very limited amount deposited in it during the school year. My parents had told me that if I kept out of trouble this summer, that I could buy a pet too. I had been well enough and kept Phil quite busy, far as Phil goes, so I was assuming an owl or cat was to be expected.

With all of that business said and done, I called into the green-flamed fireplace "Two-twenty, Beachdale Avenue, London!" And the last I saw before consumed by the Flu Network was Phil and Ginger's curious faces.


	2. Chapter 2

KUDO'S TO PEACHES FOR THE REVEIW!!! =) Hi, appreciated readers. Just wanted to say sorry if you think it's a tad slow, I promise it picks up! Keep readings, fan fiction fans! I agree with peaches, there deffinately does need to be more FredXOC out there aha. Now I'll quit blathering and let you get on with the story.. Enjoy! =)

Chapter No. 2

Very dizzy and slightly nauseous, I stepped out onto the Hover's rug and into their living room. Mr. Hover was sitting on the couch, watching what he called the telly. The thing was pretty neat, it was like this box that told you and showed different stories. Janey's dad was pure muggle, but he knew Janey's mum was a witch when they started "going steady". They got married and had Thomas and Janey.

So far, Thomas hadn't shown any real magic ability, and he hadn't received a letter from Hogwarts, so we all assumed he must be muggle too. Thomas was nice though, he was a year older than Ritchy and a lot more keen and responsible. He was a musician too. The first time I met him in out second year, I had the hugest crush. But then he started dating some other muggle and I had moved on by our third year. I still thought he was awfully cute though.

" 'Ello, Holly. How've you been?" Mr. Hover said, looking up as I dusted soot from my cardigan.

"Hi, Mr. Hover. Pretty swell, yourself?"

"Fine, fine." He replied. "I'll go call Janey for you. I think she might be in the shower."

I set down my bags and looked around. Not much had changed since my last visit. It was still very cozy and homey, slightly mismatched and creatively decorated. Mrs. Hover was very artistic, she was a robes stylist for a fashionable shop. Janey got a lot of her creativity from her too, she painted and wrote when she could.

Janey and I had been best friends since our first year. We had ended up sharing the same compartment on the train with two or three other first year girls, all frightened of the older students. We began talking and found we had a lot of similarities, like how we both enjoyed reading and were slightly shy. It was more of those "just clicked" sort of friendships. We shared the same boat on our way to the castle for the first time, and were delighted to discover we were both in the same Ravenclaw dormitory. Since then, we were quite inseparable.

Except Janey didn't have much taste for Quiditch. She nearly always came to my games as she knew how important they were to me, but otherwise it wasn't really her subject. Apart from Quiditch, we also varied a lot when it came to schoolwork. I was often didn't do my homework, and ended up copying her notes and assignments more than a few times. Janey, on the other hand, got things done nearly as soon as they were assigned and got really good marks for it too. How, then, did I manage my way into Ravenclaw, you might I ask?

Well, upon putting that great, musty hat on my head, it slid down over my eyes and it said something around these lines: "Mmm, Holly Hugo Catten, eh?" It had whispered in my ear in that old, husky, wise voice it had. "There's quite a bit to consider in this noggin of yours… Brave, and honest. You could be a valuable Gryffindor. Hardworking, a lot of character… Useful in Hufflepuff as well. Crafty, and resourceful… Even traits of Syltherin's house. But let me see, let me see… You do not belong in Slytherin. Your heart is bright with compassion. Gryffindor would suit you well, but your cleverness is not meant to be there. And although Hufflepuff would be quite fitting… You will end up somewhere… somewhere that only dear Ravenclaw's magic could help you." Well, I was right petrified that I had some old hat prodding my brain, so I don't _really_ remember exactly what it had said, except that I would end up somewhere only dear Ravenclaw's magic could help me.

I had pondered that often throughout my first year, but as time wore on it came up less and less. I hardly ever questioned as to what that hat could have meant nowadays, and when reminded of it during the fresh sorting every year, just assumed it must have foreseen me in a career that would take a lot of brains or something. At any rate, Ravenclaw was a pretty alright house.

The common room was fantastic, and there was a short cut to the library just outside the entrance that Janey and I had discovered in our second year. One of the best bits was that you never had to worry much about any boy in the house being stupid.

Janey finally came down the stairs, still towel drying her wet hair. She smiled when she saw me.

"Holly, where's your trunk? We're going straight to the station from Diagon Alley on the first." She asked when she saw that all I had was a rucksack and the bag that was constantly on my side. It contained random assorted necessities like lip balm and liner along with my current book and anything else I didn't want to lose or forget.

"Yeah, my Dad's got arrangements for it to end up at the castle by the time we get there. Would have been a pain in the arse to lug around all week. Where's your mum?" I asked her. "She's out with a friend, coffee or something. Should be back by supper. I think we're having her stew, she does spoil you." She replied and I grinned. I absolutely loved Mrs. Hover's stew. There was something about the spices and gravy that made my mouth water when I only smelt it. She usually made it on my visits when she found out what a fondness I carried for it.

"Bring your stuff to my room, we'll set up your cot." Janey said.

I grabbed my rucksack and bag and we trudged round the corner to her hallway. Her house was a small apartment in downtown London, so there wasn't much space with visitors. Her already small room was cramped without my cot, but it was quite cozy after you quit knocking into things. When we reached her room, I squealed as something ran over my feet.

"Shut-up, Holly, the neighbours don't need another excuse to call up angry! You should be used to Tim by now, honestly." I sighed in exasperation upon realising it was only Tim, Janey's mouse. Although cute he was rather annoying. It was like I was the only one he ever seemed to like to bother, always popping up in my bed, nibbling my toes in the middle of a nap, chewing on my text books. Janey thought it was rubbish, of course, but she loved that mouse too much to ever see any bad from it. Except for droppings. That was the only thing she couldn't stand. However, Tim, the brilliant mouse, was clever enough to leave them only in my shoes, so there was no problem for her.

Once we had set the cot up, while I put the bedding down Janey chucked a book at me. "Ouch, that was my head!" I voiced after a corner nailed me on my crown.

"Just read it when you've got the chance, you'll like it."

"What's it about?" I asked, turning it to the back.

"It's kind of neat, it's interesting stories about aurrors and this whole conspiracy they think is going on behind certain Death Eaters. Thought you might like it, with your dad and uncle in with the force. The conspiracy is rubbish but there's some memoirs and such. There's an over-sea's account from this one bloke that's kind of neat." Janey answered, now painting her nails.

"Huh." I replied, and stowed it under my pillow to read before bed. That was the best part of having someone like Janey for a best friend. Every night we spent together almost always ended in an hour or so of silently reading.

"SO," I said. "Anything interesting happened? Seen anyone? Met any decent guys? What about Dave, heard from him?" Dave was her not exactly ex. You know, that one boyfriend who even when you've stopped dating still seems like you are. That's Dave. Flirtatious, puppy-dog Dave.

"Well… I dunno. Things seemed to have changed a bit. He's quit talking to me like he wants me back, you know? Now it's like we're just mates. I wonder if he's seeing someone else… It's been hard to talk since stupid Adle broke his wing." She replied. Adle was their owl.

"Ah, well…" I said, giving her my wise best friend look. I knew she could tell from the sceptical look I received. "You need to move on, anyways. How're you gunna find any other snogs if you're still worrying about Dave? Who cares if he's seeing someone else, he's just out of your hair now." I said, quite satisfied with how convinced she looked.

"Yeah… I guess your right." She said, "But I forgot to mention-when mum went to Gringgotts the other week, I got her to take me with her and guess who I saw?" A grin was playing around her lips.

"Who?!" I asked with pretend over excitement.

"Oh, shut-up. It was Lee, Lee Jordan. He was their with his dad, taking out money for a new broom apparently. I actually chatted with him for quite a bit, he's really nice, and when I mentioned we'd be around Diagon Alley for the few days before term starts, he said we'd have to have lunch or something when he came for school supplies." She was pretty happy with this, I could tell.

"JANEY HAS A NEW CRUSH!" I said loudly, and shortly after received a stuffed owl to the face.

"Shut, up, Holly! My dad will here you! Or worse, Thomas! Maybe I'll have to out you to him after all these years!" I giggled and fended her off with another owl. She collected toy owls. Bonkers, isn't she.

"Well, do you like him?" I prodded. Her cheeks went faintly red as she responded. "Well… It's a bit early, isn't it, I hardly ever talked to him at school… I mean, maybe I'll be able to tell after this lunch thing, if it even happens, right…"

"Oh, bollocks, you want to date him. I know it. And this lunch thing- am I going to be stuck there watching or am I not invited or what?" I replied.

"Well I told him you were staying with us, obviously, as I'm such a fantastic and considerate friend, so he said he'd bring a mate or something." She said. I was happy there was a new boy in the picture. She and Dave had been involved with each other since last summer, so nearly over a year. Well, at least she actually had a love interest.

I had dated a few guys over the years, but the only one who really seemed to mean anything was Chase McDougan. Stupid Chase. We had dated for a couple of months last year, and it had been really, really great. But you know how things go, people change, life goes on, yada yada yada. Even though I've gotten over it for the most part, there's still a little bit of me that misses him. How things used to be. Now everything was just completely awkward, it was like I didn't know the guy since we broke up. But whatever. Maybe this year I'd meet someone worth while. Maybe Lee would bring an interesting friend.

We only knew Lee because the Gryffindor's of our year were in our herboligies class, and we were often grouped with him. He was pretty funny. He and the Weasley twins were really quite a hoot, even though we were never grouped with all three of them together. We never really got to know them, just sort of giggled at them during class, and otherwise never really spoke too much. They seemed all right, but not very serious. About anything, really. Their reputation preceded them a lot as the master pranksters of Hogwarts, especially the twins. Who knows, maybe one of their infamous red heads would be joining us for a possible lunch date.

Suddenly we heard a loud pop from the living room, followed by a call of

"Holly, you here yet? Where are you, Janey?" We got up from the bed and went to the living room to find Mrs. Hover. She was dressed in a very bright robe full of different colors, with her hair tied back in a yellow bandana. She was also carrying a huge bag she claimed her purse. When she saw us, she instantly beckoned for a hug. I loved Janey's mum.

"Holly! How've you been, dear? How was your summer? How's your mum?"

"Hello, Mrs. Hover." I replied, grinning. "It's been good, she's a little stressed by a visit from my grandparents but other wise everything's fine. Do I smell your stew?" Mrs. Hovers grin grew and she ruffled my hair and sent us to set the table.

That night, I flipped through the book Janey had given me. There was some interesting accounts of battles and such in here, with details of what spells and jinxes were used and how. I didn't have time to really look at the conspiracy theory thing that Janey had been talking about because Mrs. Hover popped her head in to tell us lights out.

The few days before we left with Janey's parents for Diagon Alley weren't extremely interesting. We went out a few times and Janey's dad gave us money for one of those muggle film thinger's, and I bought an interesting muggle book with some muggle money I had found on the street. I had seen Thomas round at dinner and in the evenings or mornings once or twice, but otherwise he was out and about, apparently.

The time finally came when we had to pack up to drive to the pub Diagon Alley was located. Thomas wasn't coming with us, he had been aloud to stay by himself at home the three nights we would be gone. However, he endured several heavy warnings from Mrs. Hover that of there were any parties or shenanigans, he would be in big trouble. Me and Janey would giggle and imitated her when she was gone just to bug him.

We arrived at the Leaky Cauldron after Mr. Hover had parked his car in some sort of lot, and were taken to two reserved bedrooms. It was actually quite a pleasant place to stay. Janey and I shared a room and Mr. and Mrs. Hover were across the hall in their own. Janey had of course brought Tim with us, and him making himself a nest in my suitcase after I had left it open during lunch reminded me of the pet business. Mum and Dad had said there would be a note and some extra money in my vault if they decided I was aloud.

Janey and I informed their parents that we were going out for the afternoon, and we made our way over to Gringgotts. As we entered the street, I realised I still wasn't sure exactly what kind of pet I wanted. There were owls to consider, and rats, and cats, and toads too even. I was pretty sure I wouldn't get a mouse. Maybe their would be something else interesting at the pet shop. I asked Janey's opinion.

"Well…" She said thoughtfully. "I dunno. I mean, you've already got Ginger, cat wise. Your dad's got an owl to use, too, doesn't he. And there's the school owls as well. From the feed back I get about Tim I take it you don't want a mouse. And rats are nasty. So are toads. What else is there, really? You could have a rabbit. They're cute." I considered a rabbit on our way. They seemed kind of vulnerable. Ritchy used to have one when I was younger and Phil wasn't around. It just sat, really. It was quite fat, too. I think it got eaten by something.

Heading into Gringgotts, we got to a goblin that was just finishing dealing with some middle-aged wizard and I gave him my key and pulled out my change purse. I watched in amusement as Janey shut her eyes and grasped the cart with white knuckles as a different goblin took us hurtling into the pits of the bank. My vault wasn't too far down, but Janey gets motion sickness quite easily. I guess that's why she doesn't like brooms.

We reached my vault and I stepped inside, finding a small pile of coins, mostly silver and bronze, on the top of a note that said "You were alright this summer, Holly, so get a pet you'll keep for a good while. Love, Mum and Dad." I grinned and scooped up the pile into my change pouch. Janey looked faintly green and nearly reluctant as the goblin pulled the lever for us to return above ground.

"Uhhng," Janey moaned as we descended the white marble stair case outside of Gringgotts. "I knew I should have waited outside…" I grinned sheepishly at her and pulled her along faster so we could get to the pet shop.

Once there, the door opened to smells mixed of dung, rotten fruit, and that animal scent. I looked around in astonishment. I had only ever been in here once before, when Janey had taken me to pick out Tim the summer before second year. I saw cats in pens and rats scurrying about, and a huge thing with a shell full of jewels that was spitting fire out of it bottom. There were owls in the rafters of all different colors and sizes, and little black things with snouts in a see-through container full of dirt and glittering objects like jewellery and coins. The sign on their cage read "Nifflers- 12 galleons each, bargain." Janey was giggling at some guinea pigs, and beside their cage was one with three or four extremely rambunctious looking ferrets.

It was then that I decided what kind of pet I wanted. Going over to the ferrets, there was one that was a dark brown with its feet, belly, snout and the tip of its tail beige. There was a black and grey and white one, an orangey looking one with light brown markings, and the smallest was pure white with a pink nose and eyes. He was putting up a ferocious play fight against the dark brown one, who had him tackled and put him on his back.

"Ohhhh, Janey look! Janey look how adorable this little white one is!" She turned over at my cooing and grinned into the cage.

"He is quite cute. Aha, look at his little feet. He's tiny." I called over the store lady. "Excuse me, ma'am, could you take out this little white ferret for me to see?" She walked over from a tank full of what looked like newts and replied,

"Only if you're seriously interested in buying. These little buggers love running loose. However, you're the first person who's shown interest in the little albino one." She said, thinking. "Maybe he won't scarper, you never know till you try." She opened the cage and shooed the brown one off him, picked the white one up and held him securely for me to pet. "These ones are pretty easy to take care of, once you get to know them." The store lady said as I stroked his nose. She had a husky voice and seemed slightly butch, kind of chunky with wild, frizzy hair bunched back in a pony tail. "The wild one's hunt, but these four have been brought up on canned ferret food. They do enjoy the odd mouse once in a while, though. He never usually get's much, as the others clobber him since they're bigger. He seems alright, want to hold him?" I nodded and my grin widened as she passed him gently to my hands.

His head was about the size of all my fingers put together. The curious little ferret's eyes never left mine, and he even let me sort of cradle him. Then he scampered up my arm to my shoulder and began snuffling and sniffing my hair, going under it and round my neck to the other shoulder and nuzzling my cheek with his damp little nose. I giggled, ticklish and the store lady had her hands up, ready to snag him should he make a dash for the ground. But he stayed on my shoulder until I gently pulled him back to my hands, where he laid and let me stroke him.

"Oh, Holly, he's great! You've got to get him!" Janey almost pleaded as she tickled under his chin.

"How much is he, then?" I asked, finally looking up at the store lady. Her name tag said Henrietta, like my chicken! I made a mental note to tell Janey soon as we left the store.

"Well, you're the first person to even take a second glance at this runt, so I'll give you a bargain- six galleons, eleven sickles and four nuts, throw in a an extra two galleons for three tins of food right now. And you're a Hogwarts student, right? If you fill out a form we can send an owl with food for a fee every month." Henrietta told me.

"Perfect!" I replied, beaming. There was a bit of the money from the vault left over, so I bought a food dish and a toy for him as well, and filled out the form at the register. When I was paying and giving in the form, he sat on my shoulder, clever as anything. Before I left, I asked if their was a name he was used to.

"Well, not really." Henrietta replied. "We refer to him as runty, but we've never had to call him or nothing before."

"Brilliant, thanks then." I said as we left. I was almost wary of him being on my shoulder in the streets, but he never took off or anything.

"So, what are you going to call him, eh?" Janey asked as we made our way back to the inn. I pondered for a moment, before replying with

"I really have no idea. What do you reckon?" Janey thought for a minute or two, and then said "What about Bimbo?" He licked my cheek with a scratchy tongue, and I said

"Yeah, Bimbo. That's cute." We went to our room, and Janey suddenly cried

"Holly! You don't think he'll eat Tim, do you?" She snapped her fingers for the mouse whose tiny head popped out of my suitcase. Bimbo showed no interest.

"Well, there's only one way to find out. Bring him over, I'll hold on to Bimbo."

Janey picked Tim up and cupped him cautiously in her hand. I took Bimbo from my shoulder and held him gently but firmly, making sure he couldn't escape my grasp.

Bimbo looked up at me curiously as Janey approached with Tim, and then turned to face the new coming mouse. He simply stared, again with curiosity. Janey slowly brought Tim closer, who also seemed curious to me, far as mice go. They were practically nose to nose, with no reaction. Then Bimbo licked Tim over his tiny head. We both stood still, shocked, until Tim reached out with his head, sniffed Bimbo, and licked him back. How utterly adorable.

Janey smiled and we set them both down on a bed, where they continued with the licking and sniffing until a playful game of rodent tag arose.

"I didn't realise what a sucker I was for these furry little buggers." I said to Janey, giggling as we sat watching on the end of the bed.

"Me neither." She replied.

The rest of the night was pleasant, even if a lot more cooey than I'd have ever imagined. After dinner we went for a walk then sat up till midnight talking and such, while Bimbo got acquainted with everything new to him. I was excited, just in general. Being here with Janey, just getting Bimbo, school to start soon… What a nice life.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter No. 3

The next morning we woke to Mrs. Hover rapping on the door.

"Oi, you slugs, get up. It's nearly eleven, breakfast is almost finished!" Janey groaned from under a pile of pillow and blanket as I blearily blinked my eyes and nearly soiled myself to find Bimbo starring at me from around a milimeter away on his seat on my pillow.

"Lordy, Bimbo!" I said after a gasp. Janey responded with another muffled groan.

"Come on, you lazy pig, we've got more money to spend!" I yelled, wakened from Bimbos shock I shoved her off the bed with a crash. I began laughing.

"OHHH, HOLLY! YOU ARE THE MOST ANNOYING IDIOT EVER!" She yelled back, untangling herself from the bed sheets on the ground. I was laughing so much at how hard she had fallen I didn't notice her winding up with a pillow till I felt a resounding smack to the face. It was a hard one, too. I stopped short laughing and sat there for a moment in shock, before I got another blow to the back of my head.

"AND YOU'RE TALKING," I roared, lunging at her as she giggled hysterically. BOOM. The door flew open and we froze.

"I said, come downstairs for breaky, you baboons! Get a move on and quit making such a racket!" Mrs. Hover finished crossly from the door way with an angry glare and stormed off. There was a few seconds of silence before we started quietly giggling at Bimbo cowering inside Janey's slipper.

The day ahead was looking promising. Janey had some spending money too, and we were free to lounge around the ally all day as Mr. and Mrs. Hover we're taking a visit to some relatives who owned some shop. The sun was bright, I was looking quite good with some make-up usually used for school and special occasions, and the sound of the twenty one ump galleons in a change bag at your waste was probably enough to make anyone happy.

We stopped and got ice-cream a half hour or so after breakfast; Janey with butternut caramel and triple fudge and I with quadruple berry and bubblegum. As we sat and licked the delicious cones, we observed the people walking by.

A young, stylish wizard sauntered by with his head in a paper, a middle aged couple strolled with arms linked, a suspicious looking witch was skulking in the direction of the forbidden Knockturn Ally.

"Huh. You ever wondered what kind of shop's they've got down there, Holly?" Janey pondered, licking a drip of ice-cream from her fingers.

"Well, I've heard rumours from Ritchy and his friends." I replied thoughtfully.

"Like what?"

"Apparently there's all sorts of queer places down there. Creepy ones. Like, Ritchys friend Todd told me there's this one place that shrinks heads and does voodoo and stuff on people for a fee, and another that sells really rare and dangerous old Dark Arts thingys. Apparently they snuck down there during school shopping one time." I answered her.

"Hmm. You know, I've never been down there… neither have you, right?" Janey asked. Though her look was hesitant, I knew where this was headed.

"Well, no…"

"…You want to?" She asked, peeking up from under her bowed head. Before asking she had become incredibly interested in her fingernails.

"Alright, let's go, you nut. But if something happens, Janey, it was completely your idea." But really, I was quite curious as to what it was like down there, and it would be impressive to say we'd been. Plus as long as we kept our mouths shut and stayed reasonably out of trouble, no parents whatsoever would have to hear about it.

She grinned at me."Finish your ice-cream. What do you reckon we find Snape, or Gild down there, Holly?" Janey giggled. We both shared a disliking for Snape, our potions master at Hogwarts. Gild was a slimeball Slytherin who loved to pick fights with other houses in our year. He and his twit of a sidekick, Olby Nealson, had once attempted to hit on me and Janey to impress his fellow Slytherins in our third year. Although he is quite attractive, we rejected him with venom and the knowledge he had unfairly caused a friend of ours a months detentions. Now he tries to embarrass us as we had him. It's usually to no avail.

I laughed and agreed as we exited the yard of the ice-cream shop. We began making our way through Diagon Ally and I tucked my change bag further under my robes and told Janey to do the same. You never knew what could happen in such an apparently shady place.

As we passed under an over cross bridge between two buildings, things began to get sketchy fast. An old warlock rushed out of the shadows with a wide, horrible grin to offer us suspicious looking pendants that would apparently protect us from vampires and werewolves alike. We politely refused, began walking faster and ignored him as he called after us.

Continuing on, we attempted to decide which shop to visit, getting occasionally distracted. Tall, suspiciously pale and Romanian looking men and intimidating, harpy like woman lurked and leered as we passed. Some people would stare after us for as long as they seemed able to. We were just outside an odd looking potions shop when a stranger really caught my attention.

He was wearing a long, dark robe with his hood partially up. Standing about half a dozen feet away, his eyes captured my gaze with the iciest blue I have ever seen. He had short, dark messy hair and his jaw-line was dotted with stubble. He was tall and seemed quite young, and oddly, he was almost… familiar. Something about his stare intimidated me to the point of feeling an instinct to run. Suddenly, he began to walk towards us with a half grin creeping onto his face. I feared this man. I had absolutely no idea why, but I knew he was no good for me, I felt like he was dangerous. And I was so _scared_. Why were these feelings so intense? I felt the insane notion to flee or provide some sort of defence growing and growing in my stomach.

"Janey," I whispered, tugging her sleeve and not taking my eyes of the man. "Janey I think we should go. I think we should get somewhere else, now. Janey, c'mon!"

"What?" She replied, slightly annoyed as she looked up from the window poster she had been reading. "Who's that guy, Holly?"

"I don't know but I think we should leave," I began pulling on her as he neared.

"But we haven't even gotten into a shop yet-"

"Excuse me, ladies…" I was gripped by fear as the man came ever closer, pulling his wand out of his robes with a horrible look in his eyes.

"JANEY HOVER! What're you doing in ever a shady place?" It was Lee Jordan, thank goodness. He came out of the potions shop tucking a brown paper bag into his rucksack. Two red heads busied with another bags contents followed him out shortly.

"Lee! I could ask you the same question. Should I be suspicious of a plan to poison me?" Janey replied with a grin and a glance at the sign of the shop. I turned to check on the position of this man, even though I felt a huge shot of relief at the boys showing up. But he had gone… I looked down the streets and craned my neck to check the crowd, and caught a glance of his huge cloak swimming away. It was soon either gone or blended in with the rest of the dark cloaks in the ally. I still felt uneasy.

"Oi, Holly, nice to see you. Glad you're not distracted by anything so you can give me a proper hello."

I turned back around quickly, still extremely spooked. Lee smiled and held out his hand.

"I believe you gals know these two, Fred and George-" After shaking my hand (I was sure it was clammy. Bless him for not making a joke of it.) Lee turned to introduce us to the twins. They were still slightly distracted by their bag, muttering quickly with looks of interest on their faces.

"Fred, George-" Lee repeated, smacking one over the head lightly. "Be gentlemen, you goons." I glanced around the street again as they said hello to Janey, then snapped back as one offered their hand.

"You alright?" He said with a slight grin.

"Oh, yeah, fine… um, Holly." I said.

"Fred." He replied. "Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Catten."

"Oh… How did you already know my name?" I asked as George took my hand in turn.

"Of course we know who you are. Holly Catten, youngest beater Ravenclaw's seen yet." George replied.

"We didn't get the chance to properly face you last year due to unlucky events, but we've seen some of your other games anyways. You're really quite good." Fred said.

"Yeah, you know you're something impressive if the mighty Weasley twins are talking about your game." Lee said with a wink. I blushed and replied,

"Well, it's not like you three are really under the radar either. Extremely authentic and amusing commentator, best beating team Gryffindors have seen for a long time. Not to mention all those fireworks that Filch was sent to the hospital wing by last year… those got you three pretty recognizable in my mind." I grinned slightly. Fred smiled back, glancing into my eyes with a bit of pride, if I wasn't mistaken.

"Well, y'know, we do what we can."

"Filch was basically asking for it," George added.

"Yeah, just filling orders, really." Lee said with a grin.

"So, I'm assuming you lot have been around here enough to know a good shop or two?" Janey asked them.

"Ah, never assume, or you could make-" George began.

"But yes, I believe we have. Lee… what do you say we take these ladies down to Loppes?" Fred cut George off, glancing around with a raised eyebrow.

"I dunno, Fred… Do you think they can" -Lee too raised an eyebrow towards us- "handle it?" Janey and I exchanged very sceptical looks as they began to grin mischievously.

"What's Loppes?" I questioned.

"It's really something, ladies. Quite a frightening shop." George said. "Some of the things they've got in there could make you scream."

"And he's not kidding." Fred added with a serious look. "Poor Lee nearly broke the windows."

"Oh, shut-up, I wasn't the one whimpering." Lee said and punched Fred in the arm as a grin blew over the red headed face.

"Touchy, touchy," Fred teased as he rubbed where he had been punched. "Lee's all nervy. Ohh, George, wonder why eh-"

"Right, so, we taking them or not?" Lee said drastically as he gave Fred another dirty look.

"I dunno, do you think you're up for it, girls?" George said, biting his lip in false worry.

"Alright, where's this Loppes." I said, taking Janey's arm. I saw a flash of worry cross her face as we began walking.

"So, er, what kind of stuff's in there anyways, boys?" Janey asked. I could tell she was trying her hardest to sound as though she really didn't care. George and Lee were much too observant for her though. I knew they realized she was nervous as they shared another mischievous glance.

"CRAZY things, Janey, thing's you wouldn't believe. Terribly frightening things… thing's that you only find in your worst nightmares!" George said, attempting a scary voice.

"Oh, come off it." Janey replied with a frown. I couldn't help but grin.

"How far down this creepy ally have we got to go to get there?" I asked.

"Well," Fred replied, "It's a right creepy place, so it's pretty deep into the creepiness of Knockturn of course. You nervy yet, Catten?"

" 'Course not." I replied smiling confidently.

" 'Course not." Fred repeated, sauntering beside us.

We walked for a few more minutes before the guys pulled us into a small back ally between to bigger buildings. In the shadows was a grungy looking little shop with a painted, greasy sign reading "Loppes- get what you shouldn't find." Janey looked up at me nervously.

"Quit being a baby." I whispered.

"I'm not! But… what if there's like, y'know, stuff that's… dangerous, or something, in there?"

"They wouldn't take us if it was really that much of a risk, Janey…" But the notion Janey brought up was enough to finally get me going slightly. They wouldn't, would they? I mean, although it wasn't any secret they were risk takers, they wouldn't lead a couple of girls somewhere like this when it might be… dangerous. Creepy, of course, but surely not _dangerous_.

"Well, ladies? You ready?" Fred turned to look at us as we stopped a few feet away from the dark door. Janey, still hooked to my arm, looked at me with a high dose of hesitation.

"Nah, bet you they're too chicken. Not that I blame them, scary shop, I guess. Whatever, let's go then." George said.

"Shame, thought you girls were tougher than that." Lee added. "I guess there's no thrills with you two."

"Oh, stuff it." I said brusquely even though I could tell they were egging us on. With Janey still hooked on my arm, I began marching towards the shop as best I could.

"Holly, Holly wait- wait! Holly, what if we get like a curse on us or something? What if someone poisons us?"

"Oh shush Janey! It can't be that bad, they were probably completely over exaggerating. And if they weren't," I continued before the boys caught up to us. "They only said all that to get us in here and act the brave part! If it's really that scary, you can cling to Lee." I finished in a whisper. Janey remained silent as Fred pushed open the creaky door and the bell over it jingled eerily.

It was very dark, and I felt Janey begin to shiver. She only shook when she was _really_ nervous.

Suddenly, a huge, black, ferocious looking cat skidded out in front of us, hissing like a steam kettle. Janey screamed and it started yowling, its hackles huge and back arched as high as it could. Out of nowhere its claws appeared and its stance changed into that of one for hunting, and a huge, clawed cat like that is not one you want jumping on you. I was about to hide behind the boys, but out of nowhere a huge boot appeared and kicked the cat into/under a shelf to our right. The shelf wobbled and a jar fell and broke. Before I could find who the boot was connected to, I was distracted by Fred's cry of "Bloody hell, those are flesh-eating termites!"

"Ahg!" I yelled as one particularly large bug scuttled towards me, beginning the lead of a confused but hungry looking swarm. I stomped on it quickly and heard a huge, deep voice utter a spell before they all became slightly blue and froze, immobile. I think Janey either nearly fainted or did, because she toppled backwards after a second or so of silence. Ironically, Lee caught her.

"Perkins tries to bother you lot again, just give 'er a good kick." Said the huge bloke who had cast the spell and sent Perkins spiralling. "I'll be cleaning these bug's up if y'need any fin'." I looked up at him in awe. His voice was so deep it was almost hard to understand. He was extremely tall and buff, with a large browny-black beard. He had that look about him of one who could take on basically anything, and was wearing overall's over a stained wife-beater and huge heavy-duty boots. His hair was tied back in a ponytail and one of his eyebrows was pierced jaggedly with what looked like a splinter of bone.

"Th-thanks for that," George said. "We're just going to look around for a bit, see if we can, er, find something."

"Right." The man said gruffly, giving us an intimidating look.

"C'mon," Fred murmured, and we all followed him cautiously around a line of shelves. Janey was still quite close to Lee, and I had my suspicions that the whole faint had been exaggerated, if not made up. I grinned slightly at the thought and made a mental note to ask her.

I began examining the shelves with caution. We had gone the opposite direction of where the termites had been, but apparently there was no sectioning in the shop. Random jars, cages and boxes that rattled and were full of odd and ghastly looking critters were littered among all sorts of books and artefacts. I knew not to touch anything, and held back Janey's hand as it reached for a beautiful yet ominous looking broach with a dark opal in the middle.

"Doing things like that, Janey, is what might get you cursed or poisoned." Her eyes widened with realization and her hand snapped back to her side.

A blood-curdling scream pierced the air as a bird with huge eyes, almost all black apart from the whites, a crimson, bloodshot red. It beat its wings against a cage overhead us. Grey-black feathers littered the air as Fred and I scrambled out from under where the cage was swinging, and another shriek filled the shop. It was the bird screaming. It settled back down quietly, and I wondered why it had started up in the first place.

"Some'n's got a good spotuh bad luck runnin' te'wards em." We heard the shop keeper say somewhere. This place really was something else. We continued down the isle, mostly silent as we gazed at the horrible wonders the shop had to hold.

I found myself staring into an oddly black mirror, and it was so interesting. I saw such queer things flickering in its depths… Something's I knew, some I had no idea, and some that were oddly familiar. I saw things that I loved, but then morphed into things that shocked me. There were flames and spirals of light that I knew had to be spells, and all of these things were whirled together in a manor that made them seem completely logical by my viewpoint but impossible to describe. I saw my family… and my friends… Lou was there, Janey too. My brothers and oddly Fred Weasley. I saw people I didn't know at all, and some who were simply vague to memory.

Suddenly, a face jumped out largely and clearly from my reflection, as though it were right in front of me. It had truly menacing, pale, icy blue eyes, and an evil mouth. The hollow cheeks were taut with an odd, desiring look; and even though the stubble was a short beard and the hair was a longer messy, I recognized the face and the odd familiarity it held. It was the man from the ally. I felt the same unexplainable fear rise in me and began to panic, before an even more frightening face began to take his place, slowly morphing into someone almost entirely different yet all the more so terrible.

It had the palest of features, with fiery snake-like eyes and thin, taunting lips. Its nostrils were slit and there wasn't a single hair on his skin, which was almost scalene. I saw its muscle's contract in a horrible and faint smile, and its eyebrows lower in ruthless mirth. I was completely shocked, even more panicked than I had been before. The faces danced in my plain eyesight and my minds eye, I soon couldn't tell which was which, and the panic grew and grew although I didn't even know whose faces these were! It was unbearable; horrible scenarios filled my terrified thoughts and I was becoming more and more desperate for whatever the hell was happening to end, how had this even begun?

I saw these men and my family and everyone I cared for tangled together with masked individuals who I couldn't even begin to ponder. Then I saw Lou, his eyes were ferocious, slightly desperate. He was panting as he keeled on the floor, face slightly contorted with pain. I saw him speak words that I couldn't here, but I knew their gravity. There were flashes of green light, red light, white light, silver light, horrible, gruesome colors that I didn't know how to describe, and then the worst bit came.

There was blood. I saw Phil sitting and crying in a small pool of it. I saw my father lying in a twisted, broken heap. Tammy lay with a blank stare coming from oddly pale and distant hazel eyes. I saw my mother screaming, my Aunt Percy weeping and bruised, and Ritchy holding his wand with a clouded, blank stare. I was faintly aware of background noise, it sounded kind of crazy, but it couldn't divide my petrified attention from the positively horrible scenes that filled my head. All of a sudden I felt a sharp pain to my temple.

A searing mark of pain on my head made me open my eyes to find Janey an inch away from my face.

"Ooo," I moaned and clutched to the spot on my temple that throbbed agonizingly. "Bloody hell… Cripes, Janey, what happened? Did… Did you see my brothers, Janey? Blimey! Is that man back here, the one from the ally?" I asked her worried face and sat up. I began to panic again, but noticed the boys all held odd expressions too, almost scared. The shop keeper was leaning on a shelf behind them.

"Er, well… The shop keeper, Artemis, sort of had to hit you." Janey replied, biting her lip. I noticed a twisted, odd looking and faintly purple piece of wood in the shop keepers hand now.

"What… why?" I questioned, perplexed. Why in the name of Merlin would some creepy shop keeper hit me over the head? And get away with it as he seemed to be, for that matter. Where was everyone I had just seen? Where they alright? I gasped and felt my stomach tighten as the cogs started turning in my head. Like a puzzle piece falling into place I remembered the mirror. I cursed quietly to myself and began rubbing my head again as I remembered that we were in a Dark Arts shop. With a bitingly sarcastic conscience I noted that that might possibly explain my recent experience.

"Holly, you were looking into this mirror and you started acting really… weird. It was like you couldn't hear us, or even feel us, actually. You had the most terrified look on your face. We were trying to get your attention and then you started hyperventilating, so we raised our voices a tad and poked at you. Nothing worked, we didn't know what to do, and the shop keeper came over and, well…" She trailed off.

"Yeh were lookin' intah Vandalins Mirror. I really oughter get a cover fer that or somthin'. It get's inter yer head. Yer react'n like tha' really ain't too surprisen', a few 'aff before yeah. It's got a backfired curse on ih, n' the only way yeah can get outta it is this here wand. Gotta get some'n to slug yer o'er the head with it." Artemis the Shop Keeper continued. "Sorry bout any bruise. Coulda been worse." He said gruffly as he took the mirror down and carried it back somewhere.

Janey stood and pulled me up. She looked at me with heavy concern and asked,

"Holly, what did you see?"

"Um… some stuff about my family... And, well, they weren't really very nice things…" I answered, looking down.

"Well, we gathered that much." George said quietly with a worried look on his face.

"Listen… It was just, really bad. Like, my worst nightmare." After a slight pause, "I'd rather not talk about it just yet." I replied quietly, still not making eye contact.

"No worries." Fred said calmly. "What d'you lot say we got get some lunch?"

"Yeah," I replied, finally looking up, pleased at the change of topic. "That sounds great."

We exited the shop and I murmured a thanks to Artemis the Shop Keeper. Although George and Lee still seemed a bit spooked, Fred and Janey tried to keep light conversation going until we reached Diagon Ally again. The whole way back through Knockturn Ally I couldn't help but check over my shoulders suspiciously every few minutes. That stupid mirror had me more paranoid than I was before.

We reached a restaurant and sat at an outside table, and as we waited for our food the mood lightened quickly and we were soon enjoying the talk and laughing at silly antics that weren't just on the boy's behalf. Me and Janey did an impression of Marcus Gild and company that was quite ridiculous, and George had a time chucking sopping spit balls onto the umbrella of the table beside us.

"What the bloody hell was that, Martha?" One of the old witch's sitting there exclaimed to her elderly friend.

"Owl shit," The other replied with surprising bluntness. This caused Janey and I to snort into our drinks.

As our meals quickly disappeared, departure was upon us.

"So, I guess you weren't lying about that lunch date then, Lee." Janey said, smiling.

"Course not, what d'you take me for?" He replied, scarfing down the last of some spaghetti. "I've got to run though, supposed to be meeting my parents in fifteen minutes... Nice hanging with you ladies." He gave Fred some money to pay his bill with and pulled out of his chair. "See you lot around, then." I could have swore I saw a small wink in Janey's direction, and with that he left.

"Huh, I guess we've got to scarper too, George…" Fred said, looking at his watch. "We were supposed meet mum twenty minutes ago."

"She's going to be ticked." George replied. "Better get to the hanging before it gets bloody."

"Never heard that expression before." I said.

"Yeah, well, it hold's too true with our dear mother." George replied. "Thanks for an interesting afternoon, ladies. See you at school."

"Yeah," Fred added, lazily calling a waiter over to split the bill. "Try to stay out of trouble."

They paid and left with waves and grins, and as it was now two thirty, Janey and I decided to spend a bit more money and call it a day.

We went into Burgundy Petals, the beauty shop, and bought some new make up. We also stopped in the less visited new and used book store, Emeralds, which had arguably better deals and variety than Flourish and Blotts. You could get an amazing novel for five knuts here, if you put in the effort of finding it. Mr. and Mrs. Emerald, the elderly shop keepers, were as pleasant as could be. To finish for the evening, I dragged Janey into the Quiditch shop to buy a new Scotland Sabres poster. They were my favourite team.

We made our way back to the inn and discovered Janey's dad sitting by the main room's fire. Bimbo was curled into a ball on Mr. Hover's stomach. Stroking Bimbo sleepily with his eyes closed, Mr. Hover didn't notice us as we snuck past them, giggling up to our room.

As we unpacked, examined and tested our new buy's, I remembered my planned interrogation about Lee.

"Right," I said, turning from the mirror I had used to apply my nice new liquid-liner to one eye.

"What was us with that fainting fit in the shop?"

Janey began to go red as she flipped through a book she had bought at Emeralds.

"You were so faking it for Lee!" I chided, grinning at her.

"Come off it, Holly, even I'm not that tactless!" She exclaimed, looking up.

I raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Well, I might have been _slightly_ over dramatic…"

The eyebrow got a bit more height.

"Oh, alright Holly, here-" She gave up, shutting the book with a snap. "I was right in shock from that freakish cat and those horrible bugs, so I was woozy! Not fainting woozy, but that's not what they think. Besides, it was more of a stumble, you know. Not a full fledged faint." She explained, a mischievous grin sliding onto her face.

"Oh Janey, you dog, I can't believe some of the stuff you get away with, honestly! But I was right again, they only wanted us in there to play the hero act." I said, matching her grin.

"Well… they weren't really over exaggerating, were they though, Holly…" The grin was slowly fading from her face. "Holly, I'm sorry but I've got to ask again… What the hell did you see in that mirror?"

My smile disappeared and I felt my eyebrows knit together in anxiety. I decided to tell Janey. She was going to find out sooner or later, being my best friend and all. Now the whole scenario was just like a horrible nightmare past. I still couldn't help but wonder who that man was, though. I now had my suspicions about the second, the one who looked so snake like.

"Well… at first, it was weird. Kind of just random things bobbing around, some I knew and some I didn't. Then I started seeing all these people… some I didn't know, some who were just sort of familiar, like I'd seen them in the hallways at school once or something. And then everyone I really cared about, all my family, you, some others. Then, out of nowhere, that creepy guy from the ally loomed out at me, that one who was trying to get to us till Lee called you? Yeah… Then his face turned into someone else's… I think it might have been You-Know-Who's face it turned to." At this Janey's face grew even more worried. "But that wasn't the worst bit, I don't think it's why I was scared like you said. After that, I saw Lou. He was tied on the floor, and then he said something, and then…" I felt my throat contort, like I was going to start crying or something. I hated that stupid mirror for putting that stuff in my head. I just told myself it wasn't real, it was just a curse, it was over now. Didn't happen. Didn't matter. "Everyone I love, everyone I saw before was in this crazy mess with You-Know-Who and the ally guy and all these masked people, I think they might have been Death Eater's. There were all these flashes of light, like spells, and then… then everyone looked horrible. Or dead. My mum was screaming, Phil was sitting in a pool of blood… it was like my worst nightmare. Maybe that's what the mirror get's at. Your worst nightmares. Kinda like a boggart." I finished softly.

"Oh, Holly…" Janey said sympathetically. "That's horrible." She came over and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "But your right, just think of it as a bad dream… But, if it was a nightmare to you, you must know that man in the ally." She said curiously.

"No, I have absolutely no idea who that man is, but he's been scaring the breath out of me since I saw him in Knockturn. It's weird. I mean, You-Know-Who was in there as well, but I've always been kind of frightened he'd come after my family if he were to return or something..."

"Mm." Janey replied thoughtfully. "Well, I doubt there's any use dwelling on it. The shop-keeper didn't say the mirror was dangerous or anything, so who knows."

I agreed and we continued to chat until dinner, the mood slowly lightening. Then, after a few games of wizard chess between Janey, her parents and I, it was time to get to sleep in preparation for a busy school shopping day.

The following sunlit hours were pretty uneventful. We woke around nine and were out by ten thirty with Janey's mum. I decided to take Bimbo along, and Janey tucked Tim into her pocket, too.

We spent the morning picking up books and potion's ingredients, and Bimbo wasn't a bother at all. He simply sat on my shoulder, occasionally scampering down to lay and be pet in my arms. Once or twice I let him down for a bathroom break, but otherwise he was perfect. Until after lunch, that is. We were just finishing at the apothecary when the door jingled and Bimbo began to hiss and spit quietly, pawing my shoulder with unease.

Waltzing in was none other than Gild. His mother, who resembled him with dark brown hair, high cheek bones and almond shaped eyes, continued towards the clerks counter. But Gild, seeing Janey and I were alone, came over to us. Mrs. Hover was somewhere else in the store.

"You're such a brilliant ferret, Bimbo." I said, scratching his ears to calm him as I faced Gild with a contemptuous stare.

"What the hell kind of name is Bimbo, Catten? Ugly little rat… not surprising you keep it for a pet." Gild smirked.

"I'm afraid you must have mistaken him as one of those things you need for friends, because I'd never be caught dead near something resembling you so much." He stared back venomously. I always got to him, I wasn't surprised that he might be getting a tad frustrated.

"What the hell do you want, Gild?" Janey asked him in an annoyed tone.

"Just in here to buy some potion mixings, you know. Pick up the usual for school, see what else I can get away with." He replied as he picked up a small jar of a metallic powdered black dust, looking at it with interest.

"Then why'd you come over here to bother us." I demanded with impatience.

"Oh, no reason really… Just wanted to see how you were holding out." He answered, looking up halfway with a faint grin, as though he was anticipating a reaction.

"What are you on about now?" Janey asked. I knew we were thinking the same thing, suspicious of some sort of obnoxious plot to embarrass or annoy us.

"Nothing." He replied, oddly decisive. I was just about to question him again when his mother called him over. Janey and I went back to our previous conversation as he went.

After another few minutes, we left the shop with Mrs. Hover to get new school robes and a few last mismatched items for different optional classes we were taking.

By the time we were done and back at the inn, it was nearly five. Janey and I packed our things and ate dinner. We were into bed by nine thirty, tired from such a long and demanding shopping day. It was just as well since we had to catch the train tomorrow. I was excited to return to Hogwarts, as was Janey. We couldn't help but talk about the coming year for an hour or so before dropping off to sleep, and I caught myself thinking of the Weasley twins as I drifted into unconsciousness.


End file.
